When Success No Longer Fits: Recognising the Signs of a Leadership Transition.
From the outside, everything can look right.
The title.
The experience.
The reputation.
And yet internally, something has shifted.
For many senior women and leaders, the first sign of a transition isn’t dissatisfaction — it’s disconnection.
The subtle signals.
Leadership transitions rarely arrive as dramatic turning points. More often, they show up quietly.
You might notice:
Your work feels heavier than it used to.
Decisions take more energy.
Achievements don’t land the same way.
You feel a pull toward something undefined.
These signals don’t mean you’re failing. They often mean you’ve outgrown the shape of your current role — a common experience during a season of leadership transition.
Why does this happen mid-career?
As leaders gain experience, their priorities change.
What once motivated you — pace, scale, visibility — may be replaced by:
desire for impact over status
autonomy over hierarchy
depth over constant expansion
This is especially common for women who’ve spent years meeting expectations — both spoken and unspoken — and are now asking more honest questions about how they want to work.
The mistake many leaders make.
The default response is often to push through.
To:
Take on a new role at the same level.
Add another responsibility.
Assume motivation will return.
But when the issue is structural or values-based, more effort doesn’t create clarity — it delays it.
Transition doesn’t always mean exit.
A leadership transition doesn’t necessarily mean leaving your organisation or career.
It might mean:
Redefining how you lead.
Reshaping your scope.
Changing the pace or structure of your work.
Creating space to think strategically again.
The key is recognising that the discomfort is informative, not something to suppress.
Creating space for clarity.
One of the hardest parts of transition is that clarity rarely arrives on demand.
It tends to emerge when leaders:
Slow the pace slightly.
Step out of constant delivery mode.
Reflect without needing immediate answers.
This is where many women feel stuck — highly capable, but without the space to think beyond what’s immediately required.
A different kind of success.
For many leaders, the next chapter isn’t about climbing higher.
It’s about:
Alignment.
Sustainability.
Self-led decision-making.
Recognising when success no longer fits is not a weakness.
It’s often the beginning of a more intentional way of working.
If you’re sensing that the shape of your work is ready to change, The Leap is a six-month group program for women navigating leadership transition with clarity, support, and intention.
